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Former US treasury secretary the Harvard professor is departing from the board at the ChatGPT creator, just a week after a series of emails between him and late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein became widely known.

Summers remarked in an announcement that he was "thankful for the opportunity to have participated, excited about the promise of the organization, and eagerly await observing their development".

The prominent academic, who once headed Harvard University, declared on recently that he would be withdrawing from public commitments due to his connections with Epstein.

Message Exchange

The recently released communications showed that the economist exchanged messages with Epstein until the day before the financier's 2019 detention for accused sex trafficking of minors.

In another announcement, the AI firm said it respected Summers' determination to depart.

"We acknowledge his numerous inputs and the insight he offered to the Board," the organization commented.

Congressional Action

This announcement arrives after the two houses of Congress decided on this week to approve a legislation that would mandate the federal prosecutors to make public its files on Epstein.

The legislation will subsequently head to the office of President Trump for approval. Trump has indicated he plans to sign the legislation, after reversing his stance on the matter following objections from his supporters.

Message Details

A batch of Epstein-connected messages disclosed by the legislative panel days ago referenced several well-known personalities in the billionaire's past associates, without suggesting any illegal behavior by those figures.

The messages indicated that Summers and Epstein regularly had dinners together, with Epstein often seeking to link the official to notable international personalities.

Individual Statement

After the messages were released with the wider community, the former official stated he assumed "full responsibility for my misguided choice to maintain corresponding with the financier".

He further stated that he desired "to restore trust and repair relationships with the people nearest to me".

Career Background

The professor served in senior posts under Democratic administrations; serving as economic leader under President Clinton, and as head of the White House economic team under Barack Obama.

He led Harvard from five years and is still a faculty member there. When announcing his withdrawal from public duties previously on this week, he stated he would persist with his academic responsibilities.

Additional Consequences

Following the economist's declaration on earlier this week, the policy organization, a progressive research organization in the capital where the professor was a prominent member, verified that the economist was ceased to be affiliated with the group.

The former official joined the leadership of OpenAI, which develops ChatGPT, in the previous year - following a unsuccessful effort to replace its CEO OpenAI's head.